Item location: Brisbane, Queensland, AustraliaThis is a duplicate mastertape of the rarest Beatles album ever. Containing recordings from the 1962 audition for the UK label Decca, this was previously only ever available as bootleg recordings. As the Managing Director of record company Music World NZ, I legitimately licensed the 12 song album and released it in Australia and New Zealand in 1983.

Recorded on 9 January 1962 under producer Mike Smith, The Beatles, at Brian Epstein's insistence, performed "standards"- obviously a major error considering the scores of Lennon-McCartney songs available even then. Inevitably the audition was unsuccessful. Dick Rowe, as head of A&R for Decca, considered The Beatles sounded "too much like The Shadows" and opted instead for Brian Poole & The Tremeloes!

Almost eight months later to the day, The Beatles (with Ringo Starr now permanently substituting Pete Best) undertook their first recording session for Parlophone Records - the start of a long and phenomenally successful association with producer George Martin.

This is a rare and unique "must have" item for the serious Beatles collector